Learning to walk just part of growing pains for Tigers rookie Nick Castellanos

Detroit Tigers third baseman Nick Castellanos hasn’t seemed overwhelmed at any point in his rookie season, showing a little power, but now he’s added walks to his repertoire.
CARLOS OSORIO — The Associated Press

DETROIT >> You have to walk before you can run. That’s true in every segment of life.

And, while it looked all along like Nick Castellanos was doing a good job of hitting the ground running as a rookie, he wasn’t really doing a great job of — well, walking.

At least not until recently.

After walking just four times in his first 151 plate appearances this season — including a span of a month with zero walks and 28 strikeouts — Castellanos has drawn six walks in his last 13 plate appearances, including a critical one as a pinch hitter late in Tuesday’s win.

“It was kind of funny: He asked me the other day if I thought he had a better chance of hitting four home runs or getting four walks that day. It was kind of a toss-up, really. It’s just ironic that he has walked a little bit here (recently). He’s still giving good at-bats. He’s learning, so there’s going to be a curve to that.”

It may seem like an inconsequential thing, when compared to some of the other counting stats — home runs, doubles, RBI — that he has provided. But it’s a key indicator of the maturation process.

Probably bigger than where he’ll end up finishing in the Rookie of the Year balloting, especially given the stacked field this season.

“He’s been fine. I don’t think anybody thought he was going to come up and be Mike Trout. He’s gotta learn the league, and the league’s going to learn him,” Ausmus said.

“He’s going to make adjustments, they’re going to adjust to him. It’s growing pains. For a young player, they go through growing pains. ... It’s just part of being a young player. And the truth is, we don’t really know what type of a player he is.”

The book on Castellanos is starting to fill in, though.

He’s proven to be a better-than-adequate defender at third base, thanks to lots of hard work with coaches Omar Vizquel and Matt Martin. The charging, bare-handed play — with Phil Coke right in his shirt — to get Michael Bourn in Cleveland last week might have been his masterpiece play.

He’s flashed some power, when he’s connected with pitches, but he’s also shown some issues with pitch (and spin) recognition. There are also a few pitches in certain locations that have given him trouble, like the slider down and away.

“Teams are going to see that on video, and start to attack that. We’ve talked about him having to make adjustments,” Ausmus said. “He’s going to have to make an adjustment, get that pitch up, or lay off it, or a combination of the two.”

This is the season where that big-league learning curve kicks in. Thanks to his September call-up, most of that learning is strictly on-field stuff.

He’s answered all the questions right, kept all of the right mindsets, too, throughout that sometimes-painful learning process.

A lot of that is because he’s very, very well grounded.

“You have to be (at ease) in this game. ... Always, growing up, I’ve been a very at-ease, laid-back player. Now, in the big leagues, you’ll have to remind yourself, ‘Take a step back and relax.’ Because it can all get pretty fast. Giving interviews ... playing in front of 50,000 people, plane rides, and everything. Life can speed up pretty quick, so you have to remind yourself to slow down, Castellanos said.

“I think a big help with that is me being a dad now. I realize what’s really important. At the end of the day, this is just a baseball game. No matter what I do tomorrow, when I go home and hold my kid, and watch him play and stuff, I’m going to have a great day.”